Impostor Syndrome

I was surprised by the comment that this would be typical of an ENTP. I'm an INTJ, and I "suffer" from this to the extreme.

No Name Today @25, this theme is common in Eldredge's writings. I think he unfortunately and often wrongly splits and dichotomizes male/female experience; he can overemphasize some gender differences into harmful stereotypes (i.e. especially in his "Wild at Heart" for men, and his "Captivating" for women), but both of those books, as well as his "Way of the Wild Heart" on the masculine journey to maturity, contain some of his writings on these topics. His book "Waking the Dead" takes a more gender-neutral look at some of the same themes, and the book that he co-authored with friend and fellow counselor Brent Curtis, titled "The Sacred Romance" does as well. Eldredge may not be your cup of tea - I disagree strongly with him at times and wince at his over-simplification and lack of nuance at others, but some of his counseling-related insights into the human person and this phenomenon of feeling like a poser or an imposter, have been helpful to me.

First, I want to say that this blog has been a blessing to me, as a Christian in academics, and this is my first comment on here.

I and my girlfriend, who are both graduate students in meteorology (that's the study of the weather, not meteors :) ), both struggle quite a bit with this "Imposter Syndrome". Pretty much everything in the original post describes how I've felt at one time or another, and especially now as I'm trying to wrap up my dissertation. I've been known to go down to the school library and look at others dissertations and worry over how my own work didn't have nearly as much quality as nearly everyone else's. I've often caught myself feeling ashamed at the two major national fellowships that I've received, feeling like I should have done more or better work to justify having been awarded them. Even though my research advisor has reassured me time and time again that I'm a great student, I still worry that at some point he's going to "bring down the gavel" somehow. The list goes on and on.

Most of the time, I feel I've been able to keep these destructive thoughts and attitudes in check, but they sometimes still get the best of me. The worst effects, at least in my case, are that it sometimes paralyzes me, keeping me from getting work done, which of course feeds back into my feelings of inadequacy, and so on...

My girlfriend could probably echo many of the same sentiments.

Anyway, knowing that others (including my girlfriend) struggle with this, is an anchor for me that keeps me from falling into despair. I've often prayed that God would deliver me from this thorn in my side. The times when I remember his work in my life up to this point, and how blessed I truly am, are the times when this "Imposter Syndrome" has the least power over me.